Washington (CNN) - A U.S. congressman is attracting attention and criticism for an online video that shows him blasting evolution and the Big Bang theory as “lies from the pit of hell” in a recent speech at a church event in his home state of Georgia.

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution, embryology, the Big Bang theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of hell,” U.S Rep. Paul Broun said in an address last month at a banquet organized by Liberty Baptist Church in Hartwell, Georgia. “And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.”

Broun, a medical doctor by training, serves on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.

Speaking at Liberty Baptist Church’s Sportsman’s Banquet on September 27, he said that “a lot of scientific data that I’ve found out as a scientist that actually show that this is really a young Earth.”

Scientists say that the Earth is roughly 4.5 billion years old and that the universe dates back 13.7 billion years.

In his speech to the church group, Broun called the Bible the “the manufacturer’s handbook. … It teaches us how to run all of public policy and everything in our society.”

“That’s the reason, as your congressman, I hold the holy Bible as being the major directions to me of how I vote in Washington, D.C., and I’ll continue to do that,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the congressman, Meredith Griffanti, said that Broun was not available for comment on Wednesday and that the video showed him “speaking off the record to a large church group about his personal beliefs regarding religious issues.”

The congressman’s remarks about science have drawn attention online, with critics taking aim at his role on the science committee.

Bill Nye, the popular science personality, told the Huffington Post in an e-mail that "Since the economic future of the United States depends on our tradition of technological innovation, Representative Broun's views are not in the national interest."

"For example, the Earth is simply not 9,000 years old," said Nye, a mechanical engineer and television personality best known for his program "Bill Nye the Science Guy." Broun "is, by any measure, unqualified to make decisions about science, space, and technology."

In the creation account, God creates Adam and Eve, the world and everything in it in six days.

For Christians who read the Genesis account literally, or authoritatively as they would say, the six days in the account are literal 24-hour periods and leave no room for evolution. Young Earth creationists use this construct and biblical genealogies to determine the age of the Earth and typically come up with 6,000 to 10,000 years.

The Gallup Poll has been tracking Americans' views on creation and evolution for 30 years. In June, it released its latest findings, which showed that 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution.

soundoff(5,886 Responses)

JLHRRT

Goodness. What is it with all the sheep? I am just as shocked and mortified by the statistics in the last paragraph: "In June, it released its latest findings, which showed that 46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God, and 15% believed in atheistic evolution." Really? Look at the evidence in front of you. Is there any concrete evidence that any story told in the bible is true? Really? A whale ate a man and he survived to tell the tale but you don't believe in evolution? Evolution is too far fetched but a man holding back the sea so a group of people could walk across to the other side on dry land is plausible? Incredible. I am glad this man isn't my physician. I'm afraid he would believe more in the "power of prayer and healing" instead of penicillin. Yikes. Oh, and he has no business whatsoever being on a science and technology committee. Do they get to choose their committees or are they appointed? Moron.

October 11, 2012 at 9:08 am |

snowboarder

jlh – i think a large section of the population never has a reason to critically think about origins.

October 11, 2012 at 9:17 am |

Stefan Radu

To Rufus: I find your answer respectful and thank your for that. You are an exception in this debate. But I think science is what can be proved practically, demonstrated in laboratory. To put together some bones and make a history out of that is rather poetry. Once people remove the notion of God, and Creation and judgement, they need something in place. And there this hypothesis came. In fact, atheism is born out of frustration for the abuses of religious empires and of the desire to never have to answer about one's personal life. It is putting one's head into the sand.
Stefan

October 11, 2012 at 9:07 am |

ialsoagree

Only true if you ignore all the genetic evidence, which is quite staggering. In fact, the genetic evidence by itself makes evolution by natural selection demonstrable. The fossil record is certainly compelling evidence, by it is by no means the crux of the argument to support evolution. Genetics seal the case.

You can argue about bones all day if you want, but the genetic evidence – which can be tested in a lab – will remain quite strong.

October 11, 2012 at 9:09 am |

Tom, Tom, the Other One

Atheism is the true, natural and original state of people. We are born atheist. We have to be indoctrinated into religion. Even then religion fails after any substantial criticism.

October 11, 2012 at 9:11 am |

Rufus T. Firefly

Thank you; however "To put together some bones and make a history out of that is rather poetry."

If that's the extent of your understanding of biological evolution, then you have none.

October 11, 2012 at 9:11 am |

fintastic

Another load of crap. How is realizing that all religion was invented by man to control man, "putting your head in the sand"??

It is quite the opposite actually.

October 11, 2012 at 9:12 am |

God

Thanks for defending the faith, your arguements would be more effective if you use the reply feature. At the bottom of your post, the little blue word "Reply".

October 11, 2012 at 9:14 am |

Will

Stefan – the lab results are based upon genetics and not upon a bunch of bones. The similarity between species is staggering – when you think about common organs that you have with even a household dog you realize that brains/eyes/ears/digestive systems/whatever – they have a common root/ancestor. And the genetic codes in things like plants clearly evolve over generations, and we can see that because a generation for a plant can be 3 months instead of 80 years as it is for us.

However, I will concede that we don't have all the answers. But the answers that science looks for are based upon the Scientific Method, which requires proof and cross-checking by expert peers. There is no debate in the scientific community on evolution. None. A lack of "all" the answers doesn't invalidate anything. But the incorporation of a divine being is outside the Scientific Method and can never be a part of science without proof. And saying "it's too incredible for us to understand, therefore there must be a god" isn't proof, nor do we want our science to be burdened by belief.

October 11, 2012 at 9:16 am |

snowboarder

radu wrote "the desire to never have to answer about one's personal life"

that is pure BS and the product of an overly simple mind. what malarky.

October 11, 2012 at 9:22 am |

Ed

Evolution has been observed in a laboratory. See Lemskey and the ecoli experiment at the University of Michigan.

Yes this member of Congress and his views on evolution are quite concerning, but I worry more about the millions who supported & voted for him.

He is correct in one thing. Not all species have evolved....

October 11, 2012 at 9:05 am |

I have many names

A congressional district doesn't have millions of voters. Is your degree from the University of the Sacred Toilet?

October 11, 2012 at 9:07 am |

L Goff

..take a good look in the Taliban mirror.

October 11, 2012 at 9:05 am |

SR

Does this guy also believe that dinosaurs walked with man? BTW, they didn’t. Believe me. I’m an expert on these types of things.

October 11, 2012 at 9:03 am |

ArthurP

Lets see what your Founding Fathers had to say about the subject:

1. "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man"- Thomas Jefferson

2. "The hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood of thousands and thousands of martyrs." – Thomas Jefferson

3. "It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism's that three are one, and one is three; and yet the one is not three, and the three are not one- Thomas Jefferson

4. "And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be cla.ssed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors."- Thomas Jefferson

5. "There is not one redeeming feature in our supersti.tion of Christianity. It has made one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."- Thomas Jefferson

6. "Lighthouses are more useful than churches."- Ben Franklin .

7. "The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason."- Ben Franklin

8. "I looked around for God's judgments, but saw no signs of them."- Ben Franklin

9. "In the affairs of the world, men are saved not by faith, but by the lack of it."- Ben Franklin

10. "This would be the best of all possible worlds if there were no religion in it"- John Adams

11. "The New Testament, they tell us, is founded upon the prophecies of the Old; if so, it must follow the fate of its foundation.'- Thomas Paine

12. "Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst."- Thomas Paine

13. "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."- Thomas Paine

14. "Take away from Genesis the belief that Moses was the author, on which only the strange belief that it is the word of God has stood, and there remains nothing of Genesis but an anonymous book of stories, fables, and traditionary or invented absurdities, or of downright lies."- Thomas Paine

15. "All national inst.itutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."- Thomas Paine

16. "It is the fable of Jesus Christ, as told in the New Testament, and the wild and visionary doctrine raised thereon, against which I contend. The story, taking it as it is told, is blasphemously obscene.”- Thomas Paine

17. "Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in
hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."- George Washington

19. "It may not be easy, in every possible case, to trace the line of separation between the rights of religion and the Civil authority with such distinctness as to avoid collisions and doubts on unessential points. The tendency to unsurpastion on one side or the other, or to a corrupting coalition or alliance between them, will be best guarded agst. by an entire abstinence of the Gov't from interference in any way whatsoever, beyond the necessity of preserving public order, and protecting each sect agst. trespa.sses on its legal rights by others."- James Madison

20. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."- James Madison

21. History, I believe, furnishes no example of a priest-ridden people maintaining a free civil government. This marks the lowest grade of ignorance, of which their political as well as religious leaders will always avail themselves for their own purpose. – Thomas Jefferson

October 11, 2012 at 9:02 am |

I have many names

The Devil made them say those things. Him and a lot of ganja and bad whisky

October 11, 2012 at 9:06 am |

Fluffy the Gerbil of Doom

@ I have many names
The devil made you say that.

October 11, 2012 at 9:08 am |

RFBJR

And of course, there is the "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights." Lol. Wha?...wait...

October 11, 2012 at 9:10 am |

mama kindless

Those are great, ArthurP! I like this one from James Madison, the 4th POTUS and chief architect of the U.S. Const!tution:

During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superst!tion, bigotry, and persecution.

-A Memorial and Remonstrance, addressed to the Virginia General Assembly, 1785

October 11, 2012 at 9:11 am |

ArthurP

@RFBJR:

Don't confuse pandering to the uneducated masses with what they actually thought.

October 11, 2012 at 9:13 am |

Rufus T. Firefly

It never ceases to amaze me how the average person can sit in their home literally surrounded by science-based technologies, and use a computer linked to other computers through satellites...to rage about how science doesn't work.

It boggles the mind...

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

Tom, Tom, the Other One

In their hearts they know that they would never understand it anyway.

October 11, 2012 at 9:02 am |

Jesse Webb

Religious faith is one thing... But full blow delusion and denial of facts and evidence is truly concerning. As I hold a sharks tooth fossil that anyone can find, I am saddened that people still think this way... No wonder the US is struggling, look at the people we have elected to hold power over us...

October 11, 2012 at 9:00 am |

e

Get this f-wad off of the science committee NOW

October 11, 2012 at 9:00 am |

Rufus T. Firefly

http://science.house.gov/contact-us/email-us

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

Stefan Radu

To "TruthPrevails": You used the word idiocy, right? There you go, whoever thinks differently in the free America is an idiot. Sorry, but I respect your point of view and would fight to death for you to have that right. Hitler was not religious at wall. I visited Braunau in Austria, where Hitler was born, and was told that Hitler was not a religious man. It is a fact. Learned there. I studied both religion and Darwinism enough in my 26 years of school (not 5, please!) and know both sides and I respect both, without feeling compelled to blindly accept anything.
Stefan

October 11, 2012 at 8:59 am |

Rufus T. Firefly

Had you spent 26 years studying biological evolution in school, you would know that they don't call it "Darwinism" any more than physics are called "Einsteinism."

October 11, 2012 at 9:03 am |

ialsoagree

You posted about Darwin not believing evolution on page 59, just wanted to point out that you were wrong, and you didn't read Darwin's next paragraph which includes the statement:

"...if further, the eye does vary ever so slightly, and the variations be inherited, which is certainly the case; and if any variation or modification in the organ be ever useful to an animal under changing conditions of life, then the difficulty of believing that a perfect and complex eye could be formed by natural selection, though insuperable by our imagination, can hardly be considered real."

October 11, 2012 at 9:04 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God's truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before in the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice.... And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.... When I go out in the morning and see these men standing in their queues and look into their pinched faces, then I believe I would be no Christian, but a very devil if I felt no pity for them, if I did not, as did our Lord two thousand years ago, turn against those by whom to-day this poor people is plundered and exploited."

-Adolf Hitler, in his speech in Munich on 12 April 1922

October 11, 2012 at 9:05 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"In the Bible we find the text, 'That which is neither hot nor cold will I spew out of my mouth.' This utterance of the great Nazarene has kept its profound validity until the present day."

-Adolf Hitler, speech in Munich, 10 April 1923

October 11, 2012 at 9:06 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"People ask: is there someone fit to be our leader? Our task is not to search for that person. Either God will give him to us or he will not come. Our task is to shape the sword that he will need when he comes. Our task it to provide the leader with a nation which is ready for him when he comes! My fellow Germans, awaken! The new day is dawning!"

-Adolf Hitler, 04 May 1923

October 11, 2012 at 9:06 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"It matters not whether these weapons of ours are humane: if they gain us our freedom, they are justified before our conscience and before our God."

-Adolf Hitler, in Munich, 01 Aug. 1923

October 11, 2012 at 9:07 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"It will at any rate be my supreme task to see to it that in the newly awakened NSDAP, the adherents of both Confessions can live peacefully together side by side in order that they may take their stand in the common fight against the power which is the mortal foe of any true Christianity."

-Adolf Hitler, in an article headed "A New Beginning," 26 Feb. 1925

October 11, 2012 at 9:07 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"We are a people of different faiths, but we are one. Which faith conquers the other is not the question; rather, the question is whether Christianity stands or falls.... We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity... in fact our movement is Christian. We are filled with a desire for Catholics and Protestants to discover one another in the deep distress of our own people."

-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Passau, 27 October 1928, Bundesarchiv Berlin-Zehlendorf

October 11, 2012 at 9:08 am |

Unbaptized John

@Stefan
How refreshing that you would fight for the freedom of TP's point of view and mine also that you are an idiot. What has Hitler got to do with Paul Broun do you see a similarity?

October 11, 2012 at 9:09 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"The Catholic Church considered the Jews pestilent for fifteen hundred years, put them in ghettos, etc, because it recognized the Jews for what they were".... I recognize the representatives of this race as pestilent for the state and for the church and perhaps I am thereby doing Christianity a great service by pushing them out of schools and public functions."

-Adolf Hitler, 26 April 1933

October 11, 2012 at 9:09 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

"We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out."

-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933

October 11, 2012 at 9:11 am |

religion; a way to control the weak minded

care to dispute any of the 10 or so quotes ive posted stating hitler was indeed a catholic and was against atheists?

disputed with facts, I mean, not opinions.

October 11, 2012 at 9:14 am |

lunchbreaker

"46% of Americans believed in creationism, 32% believed in evolution guided by God" I find it amusing that the evolution debate is devisive even within the theistic community. I always thought to be "saved", you just had to accept Jesus into your heart. Maybe Christians should focus on that, so they can keep science from tearing thier church(es) apart.

October 11, 2012 at 8:59 am |

ialsoagree

Why would you need Jesus to save everyone if there was no original sin?

In other words, if humans evolved from ape ancestors, then there was no garden of Eden and therefor no original sin. If there was no original sin, there was no need for Jesus to save mankind from original sin, and therefor the Christian mythology falls apart.

All Christians who claim to accept evolution have a fundemental flaw in their belief system: that is, everything their belief system is based on is diametrically apposed to the idea of evolution, and they have no way of reconciling that fact.

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

Cherry Picked

Does he also believe that rain falls from holes in the sky? Does he believe the world is flat? Does he believe both creation stories that contradict each other from Gen 1 and 2? Gotta believe what the good book says.

October 11, 2012 at 8:58 am |

WJ Morrow

This guy scares me. Who and we electing to office? Another fanatic

October 11, 2012 at 8:55 am |

Craboo

Clueless fanatic

October 11, 2012 at 9:00 am |

DavidvsGoliath

The way Lucifer deceives people is not by running around and trying to mislead and deceive every single person. That would be a colossal waste of his time. Lucifer is smarter than that. Instead, what Lucifer does is he focuses on misleading and deceiving only those people in our society who are influential, those who are highly regarded and respected in our societies (movie stars, newspaper editors, famous writers, book authors, world renown scientists, teachers, college professors, presidents, supreme court justices, etc) and by simply misleading and deceiving that one single person and by convincing them of a lie, Lucifer can effectively deceive all who believe in that person and can do it all in mass. By deceiving that one person, he can easily deceive millions. And that is exactly how and why Lucifer has a whole lot of people today headed straight to hell…

Take Einstein for example (someone who didn't even believe in God, by the way), all Lucifer had to do was to deceive Einstein, and by doing so he was able to deceive the whole world and all who believes in his work. How many people today believe in the works and the theories of Einstein? Answer: Lots. And whenever a certain part of Einstein's theory didn't match up to the real world or reality, all Lucifer had to do was to find some other fool, some other world renown scientist, and deceive them and get them to come up with some kind of crazy theory or notion that supports what Einstein says. And that is precisely what we have to today and is how the so-called Big Bang theory was developed. It's just one crazy scientist's ideas supporting the ideas of some other crazy scientist. When the reality is, they're both wrong, and all their ideas came from Lucifer. Ultimately, the whole world is then trapped in a pack of lies that was all started by Lucifer. Lucifer knows the real truth (that the earth is only 6000 years old just like the Bible says) and he cares nothing about your soul. All he cares about is misleading you and deceiving you until you wind up in hell. At which point you'll learn the truth. But by then, for you, it'll be too late…

October 11, 2012 at 8:55 am |

If horses had Gods .. their Gods would be horses

LOL .. no other commentary is necessary.

October 11, 2012 at 8:58 am |

ialsoagree

Interesting, so you call the Big Bang Theory the work of Lucifer's lies, and that particular idea was thought up by a Catholic priest.

Mean while, you call Einstein's work the deception of Lucifer, mean while Einstein's work is the only reason we have GPS – which has saved countless lives.

October 11, 2012 at 8:59 am |

Mbele Simba Maboto

You need some help. God will not help you. You have to do it yourself. When a man is thirsty, he has to go to the watering hole. God will not make him do it. The Devil will not make him do it. Free will determined by necessity. In your case, there might be a need for medication. Better still, did you know that Lithium might help?

October 11, 2012 at 8:59 am |

Fluffy the Gerbil of Doom

Lucifer....LMFAO.

October 11, 2012 at 9:00 am |

Joe

DavidvsGoliath, Take your medicine and go back to bed

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

Theodoric of York

I stopped reading after seeing you write, "The way Lucifer deceives people"....right there at the beginning.
Believing bull-shit is no way to go through life, son. Time to open your eyes and look at the insanity you live with.

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

I have many names

Be careful, little man or I send the Obiah man for you

October 11, 2012 at 9:01 am |

GoliathvsDavid

Actually it was Lucifer who created the Bible. As a majority of people believe creationism, it was a more effective way at decieving the masses. He made it so simple and provided a sense of ultimate authority ruled by fear that no one dare question him. Sorry DavidvsGoliath, you got it 100% wrong. Please prove to me otherwise (and don't say "b/c the Bible said so" – remember Lucifer wrote it)

October 11, 2012 at 9:02 am |

mama kindless

The Dark Side of Gullible's Travels. lol. My goodness you need to have a good BM (Bible eneMa).

The mere fact that this "thing" sits on the Science committee is an insult to the American public. He should be dismissed immediately. He endangers the workings of said committee by his primitive beliefs. He shames America as a whole as well as the GOP, which, by the way, should get rid of him. Fanatics like this are as dangerous as fanatics within Al Qaida

October 11, 2012 at 8:53 am |

mama kindless

James Madison (Deist, our 4th President, was the chief architect of the U.S. Const!tution):

During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superst!tion, bigotry, and persecution.

-A Memorial and Remonstrance, addressed to the Virginia General Assembly, 1785

October 11, 2012 at 8:52 am |

Michael

This so called "scientist" is on the House Science committee? Does he think that the earth was created with coal, oil and natural gas in situ? What about the sea shells in the Alps? What about the archelogical record showing the slow differentiation between finch species on Madegascar? That's EVOLUTION. I'd really love to see his "proof" that the earth is only 9,000 yars old. I would prefer laws be based on FACT rather than FAITH. Were I in this bozo's district, I'd do everything possible to get him sent packing or at least DEMAND that he be removed from that committee. We need people that understand the science on such a committee, not one that erroneously bases his laws on faith in what can never be proven. What a P'taK ...

October 11, 2012 at 8:51 am |

Mbele Simba Maboto

No use arguing with this kind. All answers are written in the Bible and whatever anyone says that goes against what the Bible says, must be wrong.

October 11, 2012 at 8:55 am |

snarkjeg

Many years ago, I had a college roommate who believed in a literal interpretation of the bible. She also took my geology class. Her response to this was that God placed misdirections in the world in order to test our faith. Some god, right?

October 11, 2012 at 8:59 am |

Guest

Yeah, I agree about sending him (and others of that ilk) packing but if we started doing that, a lot of these guys would be leaving vacant chairs in the various legislatures and judicial benches across America!

October 11, 2012 at 9:23 am |

asm_ith

Broun makes one wonder about the Georgia requirements for obtaining or keeping a medical license. If he is still allowed to practice medicine, it would indicate that they are pretty low and divorced from medical science.

October 11, 2012 at 8:50 am |

2357

Wanna know why we explore Mars? Minerals.
Human exploration is about resource exploitation. Always has been, even long before your favorite "bronze age" the so called life sciences are a joke. Look up Annie Dookhan, scientist. Just give me an aspirin and stfu.

The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.